Page 197 of You've Got Hate Mail
And I miss her.
I miss her more than I can ever recall missing another person in my entire life.
And now she’s right there across the table, but we’re still not alone, and I’m about to crawl out of my skin with how much I want to be alone with her.
“Remember when we were at that place in Wyoming and that woman thought you were so cute that she offered you three wishes?” Caro’s saying to Ten.
“She offered him three bitches?” Pip says. “No wonder he’s how he is.”
Pip’s back, and she’s in full Pip form.
No lingering effects of the wine, even if I think Ten’s still feeling it.
Or he had more today.
Guy just has a look like he’s faking it.
Mabel’s found her placid, no-nonsense face again.
None of the twitching that Cricket told me about yesterday.
She does pull Cricket aside as everyone else is clearing the dishes and says something to her that has Cricket snickering and hugging her.
I lift my brows when Cricket smiles at me over Mabel’s shoulders, and she giggles harder, then mouths something that looks likeheaterto me.
I’m angling toward her when Ten steps between us. “You busy tonight, my dude?”
Yes, I’m busy.
I’m busy getting my daughter to bed so that I can go see Cricket.
That’s the answer.
But it’s not the one I give Ten, because dude looks like he needs something.
“Nope,” I say. “Just Lav and me hanging with our cat.”
“Wicked. Can I come?”
“Sure.”
And that’s how we end up on my porch, Ten with his feet propped on the railing and a baseball hat pulled low over his face, sparkling flavored water in cans beside each of us.
His request.
Lav’s still at the house with Cricket and the ladies.
They’re making more specific wedding plans.
I could help, but handling Ten so Mabel doesn’t have to see him anymore—that’s more my speed tonight.
“Whoisthat chick?” he asks me. “The one who got me drunk yesterday?”
“Fun Mabel?” I ask.
His shoulder twitches. “Shit. Is she really Mabel too?”
The way I’m tempted to string him along and tell him yes… “No. That’s Cricket.”
